Enugu Lawmakers got knocks for cancelling teachers recruitment

A socio-cultural pressure group that operates under the aegis of 'Enugu Youth League, has condemned the action of members of Enugu state house of assembly, calling for the cancellation of the recently concluded primary teachers' recruitment exercise, conducted by Enugu State Universal Education Board, ENSUBEB, alleging that the lawmakers took the decision based on the fact their cronies were not favoured in the exercise.

The Coordinator of the  group, Comrade Chris Madu,who spoke to news men in Enugu yesterday said it is wrong for the state house of assembly to have relied solely on the statement by the ENSUBEB  Permanent Secretary, Mrs Rose Chiama,who have claimed that she was not involved in the exercise. The group said the state legislators should have clarified from other members of the board before drawing their conclusion.

It would be recalled that the Enugu Legislators during their last week's  sitting had invited both the Chairman of ENSUBEB,Chief Ikeje Asogwa and ENSUBEB permanent Secretary, Mrs Rose Chiama,to come and clarify allegations of having collected money to favour some of the applicants. Before the house, Mrs Rose Chiama was reported to have testified that the ENSUBEB Boss,Mr Ikeje Asogwa did not carry the board members along in the recruitment exercise.

Whereas Asogwa’s defence that  the conduct of the  exercise satisfied stipulated guidelines was not accepted by the house. It could be recalled that the directive for ENSUBEB to  recruit two thousand[2000]  primary teachers to beef up manpower in the state primary school system was given to the board by the state government.

The Enugu Youth league while reacting to the cancellation order by members of the state assembly alleged that the anger of the lawmakers stemmed from  the refusal of the board to accept the list of applicants they presented to the board, despite the fact that such persons failed the examination woefully, according to their findings.

Comrade Madu, their coordinator stated, “I want to first of all commend the Governor of Enugu State, Rt. Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, for taking the bull by the horn to embark on recruitment of primary school teachers, not minding the economic difficulties in the country in which some state governors are unable to pay workers’ salaries. This is a clear case that the governor is not ready to play politics with the destiny of Enugu children and the unemployed in the state'.

“We are mindful of the fact that the reason for conducting the screening and examination test for the intending teachers was to ensure that the best candidates emerged. To this extent, we wonder why the House would expect that there should be no complaint from those who failed'.


“It is a normal process that when people fail examination, they must either blame the teacher or the invigilator. If the intention of the lawmakers was genuine, they would have gone further to invite the other members of the board and directors to ascertain what happened”, he stated.


While further justifying the process, Madu noted that “The ENUSBEB placed announcement on radio for almost two weeks calling on the applicants to read and prepare for their exams and that they should not pay anybody a dime to secure the employment as the board would be thorough in the exercise.


“So if some applicants refused to heed to the advice and warning of the board not to pay the employment racketeers, would you then blame the chairman for their failures or commend him for being thorough?'.